The internet has changed so much of library research. Librarians use the ‘net to find things, just like you all do (and we know you do). There are some of the usual caveats, however.

Look at who’s putting the information up.

Verify what you find. Some of the most informative sites are those created by special interest groups. They have loads of information on their topic, but it is often one-sided.

The librarians here also realize that the web has loads of useful information, so for almost every subject-related research guide, we’ve got links to good sites. If you’re looking in an area that might be covered by one of our guides, we may have already weeded through lots of sites to help you find pertinent information.

Our favorite search engine is google. Followed closely by metacrawler. There are times that a search engine can be the best way “into” a subject. We had heard of a case where an alien was being executed by some state in the United States. With just that little information, regular databases, including Westlaw and Lexis, just weren’t providing useful information. However, a search on google brought up what turned out to be the case. Little bit luck, little bit usefulness.